


What is west of Westeros?

by Me_Myself_and_I_1885



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Essays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-09 00:20:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17396543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Me_Myself_and_I_1885/pseuds/Me_Myself_and_I_1885
Summary: A short consideration on the question of what might be west of Westeros.





	What is west of Westeros?

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that English is not my first language. I double-checked everything, but I cannot promise that grammar and punctuation mistakes didn't slip past me. Constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Finally, I obviously don't own A Song of Ice and Fire or Game of Thrones. I hope you enjoy!

When Arya asked, “What is west of Westeros?” in season 6, she raised a question that had not been openly addressed before. Looking at maps of the Known World and at GRRM’s writing style, I’m pretty sure that I know what is west of Westeros: an undiscovered continent.

Planetos, like our earth, is round, as has been confirmed for a while now. Furthermore, it has been noted that Westeros is shaped like Britain while Essos resembles Eurasia.

This got me thinking, especially since Sothoryos is clearly the Planetos version of Africa. Looking at the maps, I saw the barely discovered continent of Ulthos. That got my wheels turning: if Essos represented Eurasia and Sothoroys Africa, by logic, Ulthos could be a geographical equivalent of Australia. By now, you can probably see where I am going with this. What we lack is a continent that corresponds to the Americas in our world.

Now, to be fair, this alone doesn’t make for a good argument. Until I thought: hey, GRRM bases much of work in real life and real history. That fact might be in favour of my “corresponding continents” theory. There is another layer to it as well, though, and that layer has to with the Ironborn.

The Ironborn were clearly based on the Vikings, though of course they’re not an exact copy. The Vikings, as it happens, discovered America. And I think the Ironborn might have discovered an new continent in the west. They don’t remember it, but this could’ve happened thousands of years ago.

The reason I think this is Gylbert Farwynd. During the kingsmoot, Gylbert famously “promises to lead the [ironborn](https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Ironborn) to a land without winter beyond the [Sunset Sea](https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Sunset_Sea) where death holds no sway and every man will be a king and his wife a queen“.

These are exactly the kind of over-the-top stories people would tell about the New World in the early 1500s. The Lonely Light – Gylbert’s home – is the westernmost island of Westeros. The Farwynds of the Lonely Light are considered strange at best and insane at worst. If anyone in Westeros would have vague knowledge of a long-forgotten outpost across the Sunset Sea, it would be them.

In conclusion, I think we have a few hints that there may be a Planetos version of the Americas somewhere west of Westeros. If so, maybe we will confirmation of it at some point. Considering the highly interesting lands in the Further East, I would love to hear even more.


End file.
